Can I use hay instead of “litter”?

[BrownieAndBunbun]

Hello,

I have two young bunnies and am trying to litter train them… Can I just fill the whole litter box with hay instead of using litter? Right now I have litter paper pellets in the litter box with hay in the front of the box. I like this setup, but I’m wondering if I can just fill the whole box with hay (with extra hay in the front as the “kitchen” side).

The reason I want to switch to all hay is because I change the litter box frequently and if it’s all hay, I can just dump it on our hillside (instead of filling up garbage bags and creating a lot of trash).

But if the litter is “better” for the bunnies - I can keep using the litter.

Thanks!

 

[JBun]

What about switching to wood pellet litter? That doesn't have to be dumped in the trash and can be composted like the hay. You certainly can use all hay, but it's not really going to absorb the urine very well, or help control odor unless it's changed and cleaned out daily. Wood pellets do a really good job at both and help keep the urine drained away from the rabbit. It's what I've found works best. Then you put the layer of hay on top to help soften the litter for little bunny feet, and the hay adds another layer to help odor control as well.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html

 

[John Wick]

You theoretically can, however, you'd likely be going through a lot more hay and the litterbox may just generally be more "gross" between cleanings since urine is not being effectively absorbed.

Paper based litters are compostable. One reduce I volunteer just dumps all of it in a pile out back and the entire community has access to the resulting compost.

 

[BrownieAndBunbun]

What about switching to wood pellet litter? That doesn't have to be dumped in the trash and can be composted like the hay. You certainly can use all hay, but it's not really going to absorb the urine very well, or help control odor unless it's changed and cleaned out daily. Wood pellets do a really good job at both and help keep the urine drained away from the rabbit. It's what I've found works best. Then you put the layer of hay on top to help soften the litter for little bunny feet, and the hay adds another layer to help odor control as well.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html

I’ll look for the wood pellets. Thank you!